By ERIC TUCKER and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House will hold a key test vote Wednesday on whether to consider a bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program, but the prospects were uncertain amid intense Republican opposition as well as an edict earlier in the day from former
Continue ReadingBy Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN Sunday’s NCAA women’s basketball championship between Iowa and South Carolina drew nearly 19 million average viewers, shattering records to become the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever measured by Nielsen. The game not only eclipsed Monday’s men’s final between Purdue and UConn by more than 4 million viewers, but it
Continue ReadingBy COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Seventeen years after she was accused of killing her British roommate, Amanda Knox returned to an Italian court to hear the outcome of a slander charge that has stuck long after she was exonerated of the murder. Knox was reconvicted of slander Wednesday for wrongly accusing
Continue ReadingBy KATHY McCORMACK Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Voters in a New Hampshire town have passed an ordinance addressing what local officials call “a path forward” for the installation of murals and other public artwork. But a lawyer for a bakery owner in a First Amendment dispute with the town over a pastry painting
Continue ReadingBy Kristen Holmes, Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju, CNN (CNN) — As Mike Johnson stares down a serious threat to his speakership, he’s taking steps to show alignment with the most powerful figure in the Republican Party: Donald Trump. Johnson has made plans to trek down to Mar-a-Lago on Friday to appear at a joint
Continue ReadingBy The Associated Press People in New Orleans and its suburbs were sloshing through flooded streets as forecasters warned of even more rain Wednesday after high winds ripped through the South, collapsing the roof of an apartment building in Slidell, Louisiana. In Slidell, just outside New Orleans, police shared video of what they believe was
Continue ReadingBy REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man charged with three murders in an unusual doomsday-focused case crafted an alternate reality so that he could fulfill “his desire for sex, money and power,” a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday morning. “When he had a chance at what he considered his rightful destiny,
Continue ReadingBy Donald Judd and Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN Washington (CNN) — President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House Wednesday that his administration is “considering” a request from Australia to drop charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In February, the Australian Parliament approved a motion calling for Assange to be released to his home country of Australia. Asked
Continue ReadingBy RUSS BYNUM Associated Press A retired U.S. Army colonel who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Korean War has died at age 97. A funeral home says that Ralph Puckett Jr. died Monday at his home in Columbus, Georgia. President Joe Biden presented Puckett with the Medal of Honor in
Continue ReadingBy LEA SKENE and BRIAN WITTE Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal safety investigators are focusing on the electrical power system of the massive container ship that veered off course and crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last month. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said her agency is gathering data with assistance
Continue ReadingBy Steve Contorno and Kate Sullivan, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump said Wednesday he would not sign a national abortion ban if elected to the White House again, reversing a promise the former president made as a candidate in 2016 and stood by during his first term in office. Trump’s latest shift on abortion is
Continue ReadingBy WILL WEISSERT Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Japan is giving the United States 250 new cherry trees to help replace the hundreds that are being ripped out this summer as construction crews work to repair the crumbling seawall around the capital’s Tidal Basin. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement as President Joe
Continue ReadingBy KIMBERLEE KRUESI Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Senate lawmakers in Tennessee have advanced legislation making it illegal for adults to help minors get an abortion without parental consent. The GOP-controlled Senate signed off on the proposal 26-3 on Wednesday. The bill is still advancing toward the floor in the House. If enacted,
Continue ReadingBy MAYSOON KHAN Associated Press/Report for America ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York towns and villages that have post-Prohibition bans on alcohol sales would be forced to lift such restrictions under a bill moving through the Legislature. The bill, which is up for a state Senate vote after advancing out of a committee last week,
Continue ReadingBy BILL BARROW and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Arizona law that criminalizes nearly all abortions goes too far and the former president called on Arizona lawmakers to change it, while also defending the overturning of Roe v. Wade that cleared states to ban the procedure.
Continue ReadingBy Gregory Wallace, CNN (CNN) — The investigation into why a cargo ship lost power and struck a Baltimore bridge last month, causing it to collapse, is currently focused on engine room equipment, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. Hyundai, the equipment’s manufacturer, has sent employees to the Dali ship to help “download data from
Continue ReadingBy TARA COPP Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The top general for U.S. forces in Europe told Congress Wednesday that Ukraine will be outgunned 10 to one by Russia within a matter of weeks if Congress does not find a way to approve sending more ammunition and weapons to Kyiv soon. The testimony from Army
Continue ReadingBy Rob Picheta, Zeena Saifi, Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Tareq Alhelou, Mohammad Sawalhi and Abdel Qadder Al-Sabbah, CNN (CNN) — Mohammad sits on the back of a donkey-drawn cart, trundling down what is left of a road, alongside the few belongings he managed to retrieve from his flattened home. Wednesday should have marked the celebration
Continue ReadingBy LORNE COOK Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Lawmakers have approved a major revamp of the European Union’s migration regulations. The reforms are meant to end years of division over how to manage the entry of people without authorization and to deprive the far right of a vote-winning campaign issue ahead of June elections. Wednesday’s
Continue ReadingBy Aaron Pellish, CNN (CNN) — Independent presidential candidate Cornel West announced fellow academic Melina Abdullah as his vice presidential nominee in an interview Wednesday on “The Tavis Smiley Show.” “She has a record of deep commitment and investment in ensuring that poor and working people are at the center of her vision,” West said
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